Privacy is important to family law, employment law practice in California

Privacy is important to Evie Jeang, founder and managing partner of Alhambra, Calif.’s, Ideal Legal Group.

A Taiwanese-American litigator practicing for more than ten years, many of her clients take advantage of her multi-lingual skills. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese. Her firm – which also has offices in San Francisco and New York – concentrates on employment law and family law. One unique practice area for her is international divorce. That relates to marriages between citizens of different nations. Divorces of these marriages often mean dealing with diverse cultures and diverse legal systems.

Clients in these areas have to be careful in their communications using social media and other systems, because if the other side in litigation gets ahold of personal content, it could really hurt their case. That is particularly true in child support and child custody cases, Jeang said. In many family law disputes, Jeang tells her clients to close all accounts on social media to protect their cases.

In a recent interview, she points out that many attorneys get clients by referral, and they often contact lawyers by email or through a message on Facebook or via other social media. Sometimes employees will use office computers to send messages, and that content could be the property of the company.

“Sometimes they tell you confidential information,” Jeang said. “Confidentiality is very important to us.”

Jeang is among the first attorneys to use Privatus, a messaging app that is targeted to the legal profession. It keeps content privileged, confidential and is not subject to legal discovery, the company said. A password is needed to get content and all content is encrypted. Third party networks and servers which deliver messages never see the content. The company says the content will not be subject to subpoena.

Jeang describes it as taking an “extra measure” to protect privacy.

“Every message you send is encrypted,” Jeang said about the device. “You need a password for it.”

Jeang, a graduate of UCLA and Southwestern Law School, has been recognized for her many professional achievements in the law. Last year, she was named a Southern California Super Lawyer Rising Star and was included on the list of “Top Women Lawyers” – published by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. She says that Privatus helps their practice to remain competitive in their use of technology.

Meanwhile, overall improving technology has become a game-changer for the attorney-client relationship, InsideCounselreported, adding that the “limited scope of protection continues to shrink” when it comes to privileged communications. That requires lawyers to respond to protect clients’ interests.